MovieChat Forums > Alien from L.A. (1988) Discussion > Checked it out.. No way it's bottom 100...

Checked it out.. No way it's bottom 100..


I don't get it. I enjoyed it. I had to see it just to see the young Kathy, I was always a fan of her...... well, you know, not her intellect...

I was expecting a really bad flick, but I was pleasantly surprised, it was actually a sweet sci-fi affair. Sure, it had little depth but it was also not preachy in any way, overall, I liked it.

Alien From L.A. - *

"You were assimilated, resistance was futile!"
My Rating System:
*(5/10)average -=- **(6/10) -=- ***(7/10)good -=- ****(8/10) -=- *****(9/10)excellent

reply

I felt it suffered badly from padding, and having just watched it I can barely... no, I can't actually describe the plot. It has the air of The Final Sacrifice BUT with decent cinematography and lighting, although this has the unfortunate effect of making me hate it even more, because of the waste.

I mean, just look at the credits - there are dozens upon dozens of set dressers and special effects technicians and stuntmen who no doubt thought this was their big break, but their work was wasted because the plot is just a lot of padding. And why on Earth hire a supermodel as the main star if she isn't going to be wearing skin-tight leather catsuit all the way throughout the film?

As for being in the bottom hundred, that's the MST3K treatment in action. Without MST3K it would have just been forgotten, like the rest of Albert Pyun's films. It's not offensively bad, or hilariously bad, it's just very slow and dull. It reminds me of Millennium, the 1989 Kris Kristofferson film. Deep Star Six. Short Circuit II, you know.

reply

Yeah, I've seen all those, and it's on par with those sci-fi flicks, and I particularly enjoyed Deep Star Six to tell you the truth, lol, in a sci-fi fanboy type way if you know what I mean..

Bottom 100, hell no, no sci-fi film is bottom 100 unless it has absolutely no business being called a sci-fi film to begin with, for it, nothing.

"You were assimilated, resistance was futile!"

reply

I don't get the hate for this film either. I was expecting a horrible film, or at least a very bad one, but instead I got a mildly entertaining film with some imaginative set design, makeup and effects on what probably was a shoestring budget.

Kathy Ireland isn't a great actress — maybe she's not an actress at all — but she's a likable presence and makes her scenes worthwhile.

This isn't a great film by any means, but anything that entertains me this much gets a 6/10.

reply

No, I don't think it's that bad. It's just uninspired IMO, with a boring story and little tension. Ireland is adorable in the lead.

What do you think this is, a signature? It's a way of life!

reply

It wasn't terrible, definitely not bottom 100. Some of the actors were good. Ireland got annoying though.

https://twitter.com/DracTweets

reply